Creating an Install Disk

To install elementary OS, you'll need some kind of installation media. Either a blank CD or USB stick will work. Each option has its benefits and its drawbacks:

CDs are cheaply available and (unless your computer doesn't have a CD drive) your computer should support booting from a CD. If you're unsure which to use, a CD is a safe bet.

USB sticks are a lot faster and are reusable. However, if you have an older computer (2003 or older), your computer may not support booting from a USB. If your computer doesn't have a CD drive, chances are it supports booting from USB.

Burning a CD

Windows 7

Insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW into your CD drive.
Then right click on the elementary disk image and select "Burn disc image"

Click "Burn". This make take a few minutes. When the disk has finished writing, continue to TODO:Getting Started

Mac OS X

Insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW into your CD drive.
A box will appear asking what to do; click "Ignore".

Right click (or control click) on elementaryOS.iso and select "Burn elementaryOS.iso to Disc..."

Click "Burn". This make take a few minutes.
When the disk has finished writing, continue to TODO:Getting Started

elementary OS Jupiter or Ubuntu

Open Brasero and select: "Burn Image".

In the following window, choose the ISO you just downloaded, and make sure the right disk drive with a blank CD in it is selected.

Then you simply click: "Create Image", and Brasero does the rest.

When the disk has finished writing, continue to TODO:Getting Started

Creating a Bootable USB

Begin with a spare USB Stick or SD Card with at least 1GB or more of free space, and a means for
your computer to read them.

You'll also need a small application called UNetbootin. To install it in Ubuntu, just click this link. In other Linux distros, as well as any Windows or Mac computer, you'll have to download it from its website and open the downloaded file to install it.

After that, open unetbootin from your application menu, or just type "unetbootin" in a terminal. It will open a window like the one below:

Make sure "Diskimage" is selected, and click the "..." to select the ISO that you downloaded previously. Then unplug all USB memory devices apart from the one you want to use, and click "OK". Then just wait for the process to finish and reboot your computer.

If UNetbootin fails to work, Windows users can try a small app called Universal USB Installer available here. To use it, follow the wizard, and at the OS selection page, select unlisted distro, new syslinux. Install the elementary OS iso, found on the download page, to your flash drive, and then boot from the flash drive.